Jetpack experience a must add to your bucket list

Jetpack experience a must add to your “bucket list”

30 July, 2009. Christchurch, New Zealand - Almost one year to the day after the public launch of the Martin Jetpack, Kiwi inventor Glenn Martin is back at the annual EAA air show Oshkosh in Wisconsin to provide seminars on progress, but also to announce that people will really get the opportunity to fly a jetpack as soon as next year.

The Martin Jetpack was a highlight of last year’s show. Produced by Martin Aircraft Company, the practical jetpack can fly far longer than the 1950’s technology “rocket belts”.

“The response was enormous,” says Martin. “We were on 960 TV channels in the first day, and were swamped with enquiries and requests for demonstrations.”

One of the most asked questions was “When can I have a flight?”

Martin says “to be able to fly solo in a fixed wing aircraft can take 15 hours of flight training, but most people that approached us wanted to be able to learn to fly the jetpack in a few minutes. So I realised that we needed to make this one hundred times easier to fly to match people’s expectations.”

“I went back to New Zealand and sat down with the design team. We decided if we can make the world’s first practical jetpack, then we can make the easiest to fly aircraft in the world as well.”

The control and training system was rebuilt from the ground up, and a wide range of people were brought in to try it out, ranging from military-qualified pilots to complete novices.

“The result is a flight system where we can bring almost anybody in and with a couple of hours training they can be free-flying the Martin Jetpack with high levels of confidence and safety.”

Up until now, people who have flown a jetpack form a very small and exclusive group. But with this new technology, Martin plans to open a business providing jetpack flights to the public, as early as next year.

The first Martin Jetpack Experience site will be setup in Christchurch, New Zealand, the home of the company, early next year. Martin then expects to be able to franchise the business around the world.

New Zealand is the country that brought the world jet boating and bungee jumping. So, Martin says “the Jetpack Experience will be a natural fit with New Zealand’s other adventure tourism activities.”

“Jetpack flying is a unique experience. It is also enormous fun. Everyone walks away with a huge smile and a great story to tell. I have had a large number of comments particularly from my generation saying that this is one thing they want to add to their bucket list of things they want to do at least once in their life. Soon everyone will have the chance to fly a jetpack”.

About Martin Aircraft Company

Based in Christchurch, New Zealand, Martin Aircraft Company is developing the world’s first practical jetpack, the Martin Jetpack. Launched to global acclaim at the 2008 Experimental Aviation Association AirVenture air show in the USA, Martin Aircraft Company plans to fulfil its first customer orders in 2010.

The founder of Martin Aircraft Company and the inventor of the Martin Jetpack is Glenn Martin. Richard Lauder is the company’s Chief Executive.

ENDS

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